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Hollinger Corp. 
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An Interesting Account 



OF A 



Vi^it to $outt|lknd dolle; 



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By STANLEY PUMPHREY. 



(, 



Mission Work of Indiana Yearly Meeting in 




The traveler on the road from Helena to Forrest City, in 
the State of Arkansas, after leaving the succession of low, 
timbered hills, which, at this point, skirt the basin of the 
Mississippi River, looks down from a wooded slope upon 
a broad tract of country which has all the marks of fertil- 
ity. He sees, dotted about, the little cabins of the colored 
people, through whose toil this space was conquered from 
the forest, and turned into cotton fields, where they worked 
as slaves. A mile and a half away, just beyond those 
tall, bare poles of deadened timber, which indicate that 
the process of clearing is still going on, are buildings of a 
more important character. We at once guess what they 
are. " You will know Southland directly you see it," our 



/s 









2 MISSION WORK. 

driver had said, "for it looks quite like a little town." 
This statement may be received with discount; yet, at this 
spot, a work of much importance to the colored race has 
been carried on for many years. 

Helena was one among the many points occupied by 
Friends in the work undertaken by them for the relief and 
education of the freedmen at the close of the war. Here, 
in 1864, an orphan asylum was opened by the Missionary 
Board of Indiana Yearly Meeting, and was placed under 
the care of Calvin and Alida Clark. 

Colonel Bentzoni, who was stationed at Helena, in 
charge of the Fifty- sixth Colored Infantry, became warmly 
interested in the institution, and he, together w T ith the 
officers and troops under him, purchased, at a cost of $900, 
thirty acres of land, where the college now stands, and 
conveyed it in trust to Indiana Yearly Meeting for the 
benefit of the colored people. To these thirty acres the 
yearly meeting itself added fifty more. The first buildings 
at Southland were put up by the soldiers, who, having 
choice as to whether they should hang about Helena, do- 
ing nothing, or work here in the interests of their people, 
very creditably to themselves chose the latter. Whether 
Colonel Bentzoni had any idea that the institution he was 
founding would develop into a college, he selected, in 
planning the buildings, the form of an open square, after 
the plan of the English universities. It must be admitted 
that, with the general arrangement of the buildings, the 
resemblance ceases, and that no one would be likely to be 
reminded by these one-storied wooden shanties, with their 
shingle roofs, of the noble buildings which have been for 
centuries the glory of Oxford and Cambridge. Three 
sides of the square stand as they did at first. The north- 
ern side is occupied with the dormitories and studyrooms 



- A. - 

\^ C^^> ^ SOUTHLAND COLLEGE. 



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of the young men ; the eastern side with the diningroom 
and kitchen; the western with washhouse, etc. The build- 
ing that stood upon the south, where the superintendent 
and his wife formerly lived, has been moved to the end of 
the western wing, and is used for studyrooms for the young 
women. Its former site is occupied by a three-story frame 
house, built in 1874, at a cost of $7,000, with library, 
office, and receptionrooms on the ground floor, and good 
bedrooms above, occupied by A. and L. M. Chase and the 
teachers and girls. In the rear of the northeast are the 
farm buildings, and between the dwellinghouse and the 
road is a pleasure garden filled with beautiful flowers. A 
little to the west stand the school buildings, erected in 
1870, at a cost of about $10,000. Here, on the ground 
floor, are the rooms occupied respectively by the normal 
school, the day school, and the elementary department ; 
while, in the upper story, is the room used for public wor- 
ship and for other meetings, which will comfortably seat 
about 300; also, two classrooms. 

The institution, at its commencement, was an orphan 
asylum. At the close of the war, large numbers of colored 
children, who had either been sold themselves or had their 
parents sold away from them, were left in a pitiable, help- 
less condition. The government received these, fed them, 
clothed them, and put them to school till homes could be 
found for them. In this way 400 passed under the care of 
Friends at this point alone. At the same time an impor- 
tant educational work was carried on. Large numbers of 
colored children came simply for schooling, and were 
taught to read and write. About 2,500 have thus been 
cared for in addition to the orphans. The number is large, 
the work having been carried on among a floating popula- 
tion. Had they been more settled, so that a smaller num- 



4 MISSION WORK. 

ber of children could have been taught for a longer time, 
the solid results would have been greater. 

In 1 868, when the work of the Freedmen's Bureau was 
closed, and aid was consequently no longer received from 
the government, the character of the institution changed, 
and children were not taken in as orphans, except to a 
very limited extent. Fifteen of the former inmates, who 
seemed likely to make good teachers, were retained at the 
expense of Indiana Yearly Meeting. The result was very 
satisfactory; all have taught schools, and, with the excep- 
tion of some girls who have married, all are teaching now. 

Since 1869, Southland has been the day school for the 
district, with normal institute attached for the training of 
teachers. During the last eight years there has been an 
average of about 200 scholars, with a daily attendance of 
about 130. The state keeps it open as a free day school 
for three months. During six months the parents are sup- 
posed to pay a dollar a month ; but, owing to their poverty, 
this can rarely be collected. 

From forty to fifty who are training as teachers board in 
the institution. About 100 have gone out as teachers, and 
about fifty are now engaged as such, chiefly in Arkansas ; 
but also to some extent in the adjoining states of Missis- 
sippi and Tennessee. The terms for which their schools 
are open vary from four to six months, and they are able 
to earn about fifty dollars per month. Very often, when 
the term for which they are engaged has expired, they 
come back to Southland to continue their course of study. 
Often they can not pay, at the time, the three dollars per 
week, which is the charge for board, lodging, and tuition, 
but it is believed there has not been a single instance in 
which they have not honorably endeavored to pay after- 
ward what was due. 



SOUTHLAND COLLEGE. 5 

While we were there, a young man, to whose school we 
paid a very pleasant visit, brought in $70 to complete the 
payment of what was due from him two years ago. 

Here, as at Hampton, Va., and Maryville, Tenn., they 
consider it an advantage to the normal school to have the 
day school attached, inasmuch as they can learn the prac- 
tice as well as the theory of teaching. 

Southland was organized as a college in 1873, an d was 
chartered in 1876, when seven scholars graduated. The 
course of instruction includes the elements of science, 
mathematics, and natural history, as well as bookkeeping, 
German, and Latin. The students are earnestly pressed 
to complete the simple course which is here required for 
graduation, and endeavors are made to render the institu- 
tion more worthy of the title that has been given to it. 
Perhaps there is no form of benevolence more powerful 
and wide-reaching in its influences for good than the effi- 
cient and religious training of those who are to become 
the instructors of youth. That this object has been to a 
large extent successfully achieved at Southland there can 
be no question. In conversing with the County Inspector 
of Schools he spoke of the institution in the warmest terms. 
" We should not know what to do without Southland," he 
said ; ' ' they turn us out the best teachers for the colored 
people we can get." 

The religious work has all along been a very prominent 
part of the work at Southland. There has been an earnest 
concern that the scholars should be brought under Chris- 
tian instruction and influence, and especially has this 
solicitude been felt for the inmates of the institution. 
Comparatively few of these have left without giving evi- 
dence of conversion to God, and about one hundred have 
been received into membership in the Society of Friends, 



6 MISSION WORK. 

Earnest evangelizing work has been carried on in the 
district around. As long ago as 1866 the need of religious 
organization was felt and acknowledged, and twenty-nine 
orphans and forty others gave their names, with the request 
that they might be recognized as Southland Meeting in 
connection with Indiana Yearly Meeting. 

George Fox's strong conviction that the religion he 
preached was as well adapted to the colored and red men 
as it was to the white, was not at this time generally pos- 
sessed by the members of the Society he founded, and 
false notions as to the necessity of maintaining a select 
respectability hindered Friends from extending the right 
hand of fellowship to those who were prepared to grasp it 
eagerly. 

It was not till 1868 that seven colored people of Arkan- 
sas were received as members, nor until 1870 that South- 
land was recognized as a Preparative Meeting. Meanwhile 
other organizations had stepped in to reap the harvest for 
which Friends had labored, and those who had been on 
perfectly good terms while we had been drawing fish to 
their nets, opposed us with sectarian jealousy when they 
found us drawing to our own. 

In 1873 Southland Monthly Meeting was established, 
and in 1876, a branch meeting was set up at Hickory 
Ridge, twenty miles further to the West. Here a meeting- 
house was built and a work done, the practical benefit of 
which was freely acknowledged by some of the white peo- 
ple of the neighborhood. 

Daniel Drew was recorded a minister in 187 1, and con- 
tinues to exercise his gift, much to the edification and 
comfort of his friends. He and other colored brethren, to 
whom a gift in the ministry has been committed, are often 
engaged in religious service among their own people. 



SOUTHLAND COLLEGE. 7 

Our dear friends, A. and L. M. Chase have given up the 
most of their time for the last four years to mission work 
in the South. They make Southland their center, and go 
out into various parts of Arkansas and Mississippi, holding 
temperance and gospel meetings, and distributing Bibles 
and tracts. The service is attended with much hardship. 
From the white people generally they receive but little 
countenance, and a few times open opposition, but more 
often silent contempt; but there are noble exceptions, 
and a gradual but perceptible change is taking place, as 
they see the necessity and benefits of education. These 
Friends often put up with the colored people, and with the 
more prosperous and thrifty class are comfortably provided 
for : while with others, though welcome to all they have 
to offer, it is often only a comfortless abode, and their 
common fare corn bread and fat pork. The roads, too, 
are of the worst kind, and from the absence of bridges 
and the sudden rising of creeks, are often dangerous. 
Last year, in going to Hickory Ridge, Lydia M. Chase 
was turned over in Big Creek, and narrowly escaped 
drowning. 

THE VISIT OF E. AND I. BEARD. 

We arrived at Southland on the nth of Fourth month. 
Elkanah and Irena Beard came the following morning. 
The latter were welcomed as old friends. Their visits 
have been frequent, and they have a strong hold on the 
affections of both teachers and scholars. We did not our- 
selves come entirely as strangers, for we had met Alida 
Clark and Amasa and Lydia M. Chase at Western and In- 
diana Yearly Meetings. 

Alida Clark is the moving spirit of the place, and with 
what earnest enthusiasm she pursues the mission she has 



8 MISSION WORK. 

accepted as her life work is well known. With regard to 
Calvin Clark, it is not too much to say that his services 
are as indispensable as those of his wife. He takes gen- 
eral oversight of temporal interests of the institution with 
much practical good sense ; manages the farm, keeps ac- 
counts, and attends to business matters with a steady per- 
severance and cheerfulness all the more admirable because 
the work is, evidently, not one which he would have will- 
ingly chosen. Myron H. Thomas, the teacher of the 
senior class, and Henrietta Kitterell and Emma H. France, 
teachers of the other departments, are well adapted for 
the posts they fill. m The two last named are young women 
of color who have been trained at Southland from their 
childhood. 

Sixth day had been fixed for the annual temperance 
meeting and entertainment, and all day long preparations 
for it were going forward. Lydia Chase's room, which is 
usually a hive of industry, was busier than ever, and the 
sewing machine was in constant requisition, and making 
double-quick time. In the evening the meetingroom was 
crowded, the parents and friends of the scholars having 
come to see and hear the young people. The entertain- 
ment was of the most varied character, pieces learnt for 
the occasion were recited in prose and poetry, and sing- 
ing, either solo or in company, was liberally interspersed. 
There were some dialogues and short addresses, and alto- 
gether some scores must have taken part. The enthusiasm 
of the proceedings reached its height when several of the 
older colored brethren gave us some of their old planta- 
tion hymns. One of these, beginning, " Go, Jonah, and 
preach my gospel," related with much minuteness the his- 
tory of that disobedient prophet. The blanks in the Scrip- 
ture narrative were filled up, and Jonah's experience from 



SOUTHLAND COLLEGE. 9 

the time he went to Joppa till the time he was swallowed 
by the fish were related with great vividness and force of 
imagination. The singers were tired by the time they 
had reached this point in his history, and did not finish it. 
In another hymn, which was sung with ardor, these words 
were often repeated : 

Reign, oh ! reign, oh ! reign, my Lord, 

Reign, Massa Jesus, reign, 
Rain, oh ! rain salvation down, 

Reign, Massa Jesus, reign ; 

and it went on to speak of the blessed indwelling and gov- 
ernment of Christ, the Lord. We did not separate till 
after eleven, and our friends would, no doubt, quite as 
willingly have stayed till three. 

First day, the 14th, was the anniversary of the institu- 
tion. It was a day that had been looked forward to with 
eager expectation, and it was a great disappointment that 
it was ushered in by a violent storm, with thunder and 
lightning. Some of our company were tempted to think 
that the elements had got under the dominion of the 
"Prince of the power of the air;" but, although our 
meetings were smaller, they were blessed, and the Spirit, 
who in the beginning moved upon the face of the waters, 
was evidently there. In the morning Irena Beard spoke 
on the history of Eve, and in the evening Stanley Pum- 
phrey preached from "Grow in grace," and Elkanah 
Beard gave us a striking sermon on Mephibosheth, the 
poor lame man, who was but a ' ' dead dog " in his own 
sight, yet who was admitted to David's table as one of the 
king's sons. The afternoon meeting was more interesting 
still. It was an experience meeting, and many and heart- 
felt were the acknowledgments of the Lord's goodness. 
Old students were there, who had come from their schools 



IO MISSION WORK. 

in the country to be present at the anniversary. One had 
come three hundred miles. Southland is home to them, 
and it was delightful to see the pleasure with which they 
mingled with their old associates and teachers. They told 
us of their difficulties, their labors, and their hopes. Some 
of them were opposed because they were Quakers, and 
their efforts in religious instruction and in the promotion of 
total abstinence were bitterly denounced. One of them 
was told by a director that he must give up using the 
Bible in school, but he replied that he would rather give 
up his post, and his constancy gained the day. Others 
expressed their desire to grow stronger and stronger in the 
Lord, that they might be of more use to their people, and 
entered into covenant to serve God more faithfully. "I 
want to be a better man," said one noble young fellow, 
' ' and to live nearer to Christ, for I can not be thankful 
enough for all he has done for me." "It was a great 
blessing," said another, "that I was cast under the in- 
fluence of this institution. " ' ' While many of my old 
associates," said a third, "have been sent to the peni- 
tentiary, I, who was brought here, have found the Lord 
Jesus Christ." Some were teaching Sabbath schools, and 
were able to tell of the conversion of their pupils. I 
think it was on another occasion that we had a remarka- 
ble testimony from an elderly colored woman, whose de- 
portment had the dignity and refinement that true religion 
alone can give. Her life had been an uncommon one. A 
skillful dressmaker, she had earned enough to purchase 
her own freedom and that of one of her children. She 
was imprisoned at Charleston by the confederates at the 
commencement of the war, because, in an intercepted let- 
ter sent to her son, who was serving under Major Ander- 
son at Fort Sumter, she had said that she was praying 



SOUTHLAND COLLEGE. II 

daily for his preservation, and that of his commanding offi- 
cer. "I entered," she told us, "on the ship Zion thirty 
years ago, and am noways tired. The Lord has been very 
good to me. He has delivered me out of all my afflictions. 
When I was hungry he fed me ; when I was naked he 
clothed me ; when I was in trouble he comforted me. O I 
what would the world be without Jesus. Had I a thou- 
sand tongues I could not speak enough in my dear Re- 
deemer's praise." 

Our presence was not allowed to interfere with the ordi- 
nary school exercises. At five o'clock the bell rang, and 
at six we sat down to breakfast. The scholars stand round 
the table while they sing a verse or two of some familiar 
hymn, previous to the thanksgiving pause. After breakfast 
the Bible is handed to Calvin Clark. "Have you any 
choice ?" he said, as he turned to us. "Yes," said Elka- 
nah, " I should like the Epistle of James ; I want to hear 
about a religion that teaches us to do." So for five morn- 
ings we had the practical teachings of the Apostle of 
Works. Short exhortations were given each morning by 
one or more of us, enforcing the lessons of the chapter 
read, and the call of the Spirit to vocal prayer was gladly 
responded to. 

After breakfast the girls have their household duties to 
attend to, for this is part of their education, and habits of 
neatness and order are inculcated. At 8.30 the bell rings 
for school, the first half hour being devoted to religious 
exercises. There was singing, followed by both silent and 
vocal prayer, and the Holy Scriptures were read and ex- 
pounded. The children showed good attention and an- 
swered questions well. " What does Jesus mean when he 
says l Ye are the light of the world ' ? " " He means," 
said a little lad, ' ' that Christians should do right, so that 



12 MISSION WORK. 

sinners may follow their example." School lasts till twelve, 
and then there is recess for dinner and recreation till 1.30, 
the afternoon session closing at 4. Supper is at 6.30, 
and then at eight each evening we had our meeting. It is 
scarcely surprising that after days so long and fully occupied 
there was "a little appearance of dr©wsiness." The won- 
der was that it was not exhibited in a much larger number. 
Usually, however, after a short nap at the beginning of a 
meeting, and the singing of one or two hymns, the congre- 
gation woke up and continued awake. The meetings were 
varied in their character. We thought it right to give a 
•good deal of direct religious teaching. One evening the 
subject of sanctification was before us and the hearers were 
asked to search out in their Bibles and read aloud a number 
of texts bearing upon it. On another occasion the judg- 
ment to come and the teaching of the Bible on heaven and 
hell was brought out in the same way. Another evening 
our lesson was taken from Jer. vii: 21-28. The words 
■"obey my voice," and "they went backward and not 
forward," being dwelt upon as the special key notes of the 
lesson. The interest of the meetings increased night after 
night, and by the close of the week many were seeking the 
pardon of their sins, and others had renewed their cove- 
nants. During the daytime we had many private inter- 
views, both with the anxious and the unconcerned, spent 
considerable time in the classes and called on some of the 
people of the neighborhood. 

One afternoon Stanley Pumphrey gave the scholars a 
lecture on England, and Elkanah Beard set them in roars 
of laughter by his graphic description of the way bread and 
butter are made in Hindoostan. 

On First day, the 21st, there was a large attendance at all 
the meetings. Elkanah Beard spoke from " Fair as the 



SOUTHLAND COLLEGE. 1 3 

moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with ban- 
ners," and set forth what the church ought to be, and how 
it would ride on triumphant round the world. In the after- 
noon he and his wife related their remarkable deliverance 
from shipwreck, and in the evening he preached again. 
The power of the Lord was manifest, and as soon as he 
had finished inquirers began to come forward of their own 
accord, earnestly seeking the forgiveness of sins. Chris- 
tians went round among the congregation to persuade others 
to come, and soon thirty or forty were kneeling at the plat- 
form, and some were crying for mercy. Several were soon 
made happy and testified of the blessing they had received. 
One young man for whom much prayer had been offered 
came forward and found himself kneeling by the side of 
another with whom he had a long-standing quarrel. He 
got up and turned away, but when meeting was about to 
close he asked leave to say a few words, when, turning to 
his former enemy, he said : " I have been mad with you 
for two months, and I can not pray to God till you forgive 
me. Will you?" The other said "Yes." They shook 
hands, and were reconciled. 

Stanley Pumphrey and Amasa Chase went over on 
Seventh day, 20th, to Hickory Ridge, where there is an- 
other meeting of colored Friends. We had had a succes- 
sion of violent thunderstorms, and the heavy rains swelled 
the creeks so that the railroad was under water for long dis- 
tances together and it nearly reached the bottom of the 
cars. We had good and well-attended meetings on First 
day, and the interest was such that it appeared to us right 
to continue the meetings for a few days. Amasa Chase 
went home on Second day and sent up reinforcements, viz : 
Lydia M. Chase, S. G. Pumphrey, Isabella Chatters, and four 
of the students. Soon after their arrival a tremendous storm 



14 MISSION WORK. 

set ill, and very few could get out to meeting. All night 
long the blaze of the lightning and roar of the thunder were 
incessant, and the rain came down in torrents unusual even 
in this southern latitude. In the morning we found to our 
dismay that we were prisoners. All the bridges of the 
country had been washed away in the flood of last year, 
and only the smaller ones had been replaced; the fords 
were no longer fordable, and the railroad bridges were so 
injured that they would not be safe to cross till the waters 
had subsided so as to allow of repairing them. We waited 
day after day with admirable patience on the part of some 
of our number, and with feelings approaching the reverse 
on the part of the rest. The poor girls who had come to 
help us longed to get home to their studies. Southland 
never looked more attractive than when they could not 
reach it, and they said the last star would fall from heaven 
before they would again visit Hickory Ridge. I confess 
to having experienced a very keen sympathy with them 
myself. We held a meeting each night with the colored 
people who were summoned to the meetinghouse by the 
ringing of the bell. Very few white people came, and our 
efforts to see them by themselves were not successful. The 
first evening we appointed a meeting with them the thun- 
derstorm was gathering ; the second a trifling excuse was 
found for setting it aside, and on the third not a woman was 
present, and only about twenty men and children. We had 
gone to the colored people first and they were no more dis- 
posed to receive us than were the Samaritans to receive our 
Master when "his face was as though he would go to Jeru- 
salem." And yet at Hickory Ridge a better feeling has 
been manifested toward our friends than at any point 
where they have worked. On Fifth day we received the 
information that the cars were at Poplar Grove four miles 



SOUTHLAND COLLEGE. 1 5 

# 

off, and would start at 7.30 in the morning with the pros- 
pect of getting through to Helena. We rose at 5 a. m. and 
were off betimes, a benevolent Englishman lending us his 
wagon ; but on reaching Poplar Grove, lo, the cars had 
gone the night before and were waiting five miles off at 
Barton. Big Creek lay between us and Barton, and this 
stream in its present condition we could not ford. There 
was nothing for us but to walk, and cross the railroad 
bridge which happily was standing. When w r e reached 
Barton the cars were there and seemed likely to remain 
there for some days. Men were at work on the bridge 
below, but the water was still high. An enterprising Mis- 
sourian had, however, made a rough boat since the flood 
set in, and in that we crossed. We sent on our young men 
to Southland, and late in the evening their team came to 
meet us and we reached home safely, our friends almost as 
glad to see us as we to meet them. 

We found the good work had been going on well in our 
absence. The interest had deepened and many had found 
peace. One night the Christian students rose at two and 
continued in prayer till five with those who were anxious. 
The concluding meetings on First day were well attended. 
In the morning Stanley Pumphrey preached from the 
parable of the Sower. In the afternoon, by special request, 
he gave some teaching on the principles of Friends getting 
the students to search out in their Bibles the proof passages. 
In the evening he spoke from the words, " The day of the 
Lord is near in the valley of decision/' urging an imme- 
diate surrender on the part of those who were still holding 
back. Irena Beard and S. G. Pumphrey also gave parting 
addresses. An opportunity was given for the converts to 
state what church they would wish to join, and we stayed 
till a late hour in conversation and prayer with those who 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

were still seeking the forgivene " U 1 17 UO v 4y I Vj 

ing all the students and other members of the household 
assembled on the porch to bid us farewell. As we drove 
off they were singing ' ' In the sweet bye and bye, we shall 
meet on that beautiful shore, " and it was not easy to keep 
back our tears. 

In conclusion I wish to bespeak for Southland the con- 
tinued interest and support of Friends. No missionary 
work more important in character or fruitful in results is 
being carried on by our members. A good start has been 
made ; but the work is only in its infancy. Withdraw the 
support that has been given, and much of the good already 
done will get scattered ; sustain it well, and the work will 
go on with increased momentum. With more means at 
their command our Friends could readily enlarge their field 
of work. This is also the case in the missionary work of 
Amasaand Lydia M. Chase, to whom scarcely any help has 
been given the past two years. The $30 raised for them 
in the Indiana Women's Yearly Meeting last year was at 
once expended by'Lydia M. Chase in tracts. At the present 
time the institution is greatly needing a new diningroom, 
kitchen, and new dormitories and study room for the young 
men, the temporary buildings erected by the soldiers, 
which are still occupied, being now past repair. The 
probable cost will be from $3,000 to $4,000, of which 
$1,000 is promised provided the rest can be raised. Con- 
tributions in aid w 7 ill be gladly received by Joseph Dickin- 
son, Richmond, Indiana, Secretary of the Missionary 
Board, or by Calvin Clark, Helena, Arkansas. 



Friends' Publishing House Print, 

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